HawkSoft

As a non-power gamer I very much like the distinction between per-encounter and per-rest abilities, I only wish it were tied to some kind of timer (a Watcher's fate?) linked to the main quest. EG The protagonist could: Slowly losing their sanity/will, Gain some kind of negative experience points over time and by resting. I find the system a pleasant change from button-mashing cooldown systems and potion-chugging mana systems I don't agree that it's just a piece of nostalgia.

Don't say that, I've just attempted to play my backer copy of Wasteland 2, brown toons on a brown background and some joker telling me to pick up a can…

It's been said that v3 will have fewer trash fights so there should be less need for spell spamming.

@rjshae, neither of my book suggestions are about generation ships but about what happens to societies isolated in space. In Serpents Reach you have a relatively small *alpha* human population that has been quarantined by the rest of humanity in a sector containing the first intelligent aliens. The book examines how a small society, exposed to alien behavioural norms might drift away from what we consider normal… A Deepness in the Sky is set in a universe with a (almost) galaxy spanning trading civilisation where individual deals might take decades or longer to come to fruition. The book itself is about a clash between this mature trading civilisation that exists as a diaspora of generation ships, a regional planet-based *barbarian* power and a newly discovered alien species. There's quite a lot of politics both within and between the 3 civilisations.

OK, now I can read it. I think the change is sensible but misnamed, it's encouraged me to branch out and try more spells rather than just spamming the low level ones.

Some more thoughts. On a spaceship the key materials to make gunpowder, sulphur and saltpetre are likely to be hard to get hold of whilst electrical power will be plentiful, even if small, high power batteries are not. High precision machining facilities would be a *must have* on any generational ship so making a weapon, given a suitable design and materials should be straightforward. Chemical processing would be more problematic as many techniques rely on gravity and most are potentially very dangerous. Some ship made weapon options: ​Non-military (EDIT: electrical) lasers, these might force people to wear protective eye shields, EDIT: Chemical lasers, powerful but consume lots of unpleasant chemicals (best used outside) Tasers, Air guns: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_air_rifle, Microwave *burners*, basically the guts of an *overclocked* microwave oven with a more directional emitter. Various forms of baton round: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baton_round There would probably be very strong taboos about polluting the air or damaging the (biological) waste recycling system.

Sounds interesting, as does Age of Decadence, but unless it runs on Mac I won't be playing it Some book references, have you read? Serpents Reach by CJ Cherryh, how an isolated human society loses much of its humanity A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge, considers how a sub-light trading empire might work (or not…) I am concerned that you already have a detailed arms catalogue but your background does not seem to have considered what the attitudes of 4th generation spacers might be to the widespread use of weapons that could cause catastrophic equipment damage and/or decompression. Current day sky marshals use weapons designed not to cause decompression in a thin skinned airliner, I would expect born and bred spacers to have similar concerns. Yes, you could say the ship is built into an asteroid and hand wave the problem away but I think you could make the setting more unique by considering this issue. Characters should also have a good dose of *settler skills* EG farming which might diverge from their practical templates to become pseudo religions in the absence of any practical application, EG the Three Fielders versus the Enclosers (these are from UK history). This could be a source of *matrix tribalism* among the crew and allow for multi-dimensional reputations.

With the current v3 beta guns are probably the only option for ciphers on normal difficulty (relatively short fights). Of these a blunderbuss (or two) with supporting talents generates the most focus.

As a moderately benevolent and honest character my protagonist would like the option to throw this git in the dungeon and let him rot! Hanging's too good for a trader in orlan slaves and my protagonist doesn't like lying. Should this quest affect reputation?

there is battle fatigue Not in v3, or travel fatigue.

@Tennisgolfball, I think we must be playing different games. Once I had un-learnt my Infinity Engine habits I found combat in PoE straightforward but satisfying: it doesn't require any form of twitch skills or devolve to an elemental game of rock-paper-scissors but bad tactics will hurt your party every time. I feel the survival buffs are too generous and probably should be halved, I also don't understand the in-game rational for only being able to choose 1 benefit out of 6. If I were a character I'd spend an extra 4/8 hours in camp to prepare the anti-venom, buff up the armour and sharpen the weapons (etc.) to ensure I got as many factors in my favour as possible, that's how real world soldiers and sportsmen operate. Confusion comes from the unclear interaction of the camping bonus and the persistent inn bonuses In my experience it's much easier to order separate meals at an inn/hotel than to cook up more than one type of food whilst camping

I'd never really noticed Thrust generating focus, I see it as a tool to push aggro away from a squishy and give them time to cast something nasty. Its weak spot it that the cipher can't cast it on themselves or an allied NPC.

My L13 cipher protagonist has gone from leading damage dealer to second rate ranged fighter Aloth is doing fine and now opens most fights with (mastered) Expose Vulnerabilities.

*Tank* is probably not the most suitable term for PoE as defensive blockers need to have a reasonable damage output or the enemy AI will just ignore them and pulp your squishies. Might be better to think of them as maulers that tie up the enemy heavy hitters and grind them down.

OBS did a great job of making the low level spells consistently useful, particularly the status dealing ones, throughout the game. Thrust of Tattered Veils is good for interrupting casters until your monk, rogue or ranger's pet can get up close and personal

Maybe Echo should be a level or two higher and one of the less useful high level powers can be demoted?

The mechanic is abstracted enough that I'm sure anyone with an imagination could come up with a reasonable explanation. Maybe you've spent time during the night preparing a coating for your weapons that is particularly effective against certain creatures? I'm sure there's a ton of possible explanations. I'm happy with the idea that you can sit round the campfire and prepare anti-slime arrows (or whatever). What I don't like is that you don't need any other expertise to do it If, say, it required at least one character to have Primal Bane for anyone in the party to select the anti-Primal bonus that that would be cool and enhance my experience of roleplaying

Why? I find it refreshing to have a fantasy combat system that acknowledges this key real-world distinction.

I agree with you that Amplified Wave is no longer worth the focus, I just tried it to see what it felt like in terms of a *return on investment* (poor). BTW I'm happy being a *wuss* and playing on normal thanks

My view? Your companion is no longer Zahua, why not just grab a hireling, far less work

I've just re-armed my cipher with Pliambo per Casitàs (a nice arquebus) and treated myself to an Amplified Wave when tackling the next crop of bounty villains (Foemyna). It was the only power the cipher used in the fight, he just had enough focus to do something interesting with as the last opponent went down. Aloth opened with Expose Vulnerabilities and then switched to damage dealing, it was all over rather quickly.

With apologies for the deliberately inflammatory title Making Survival useful is great but the new resting bonuses: May make the game (even) easier, Seem gamey, EG becoming an expert in slaying XYZ overnight (more suitable for an action RPG than a cRPG?), Cause confusion with Inn/Stronghold bonuses, Raise the question of why the whole party has to take the same resting bonus at (EG) a fully developed stronghold (10 options) when camping bonuses are chosen per character, Have too many options. Discuss… EDIT: For reference I play on normal and appreciate that the situation may be different with other difficulties.

With the current beta build [v3.00.929 PX1-Steam] I do not believe ranged ciphers are a worthwhile choice for protagonist and if I wanted a melee build I'd go paladin or possibly rogue. For companion ciphers the build options seem to be limited: greater focus, biting whip and the best firearm available (=Lead Spitter) seem to be obligatory. I wonder what the next *balance* iteration will bring

dang. so adding WM added to loading times? Yes, I assume because the save games have to include data for several more areas. However v2 also included a fix for the save-game bloat that had plagued v1.

Surely they could have thought of a better reward than inflicting foolish and pointless backer stories on everyone else. A bunch of out of world npc's standing around does indeed harm immersion and atmosphere. What self respecting kickstarter backer would want to inflict that blemish on an otherwise great game? Checking kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/description At least 367 people pledged $500+ to get a digital memorial (I assume the other premium pledges also got a memorial). 114 people (out of a possible 200) pledged $1k to name and design one of the gold NPCs. So, to answer your question, it was people who really wanted to make the game happen and were prepared to pay well over the odds to help ensure it did